Water Polo places No. 3 in Southern Division

The Johns Hopkins University Water Polo team finished third this past weekend in the Collegiate Water Polo Association Southern Division Championship.

The Blue Jays, seeded No. 3, went 3-1 in tournament play, defeating George Washington and Grove City College before losing to Navy, the eventual tournament champions.

In the third place game on Sunday, the Blue Jays defeated Bucknell 10-7 in their last game of the tournament.

With the 10-7 win, the Blue Jays clinched third place in the tournament and defeated Bucknell for the fourth time this season. The Blue Jays jumped out to a 3-1 lead after the first quarter and extended the lead to a 6-2 mark at halftime. Bucknell cut the lead and brought the score closer thanks to four goals in the fourth quarter but that was not enough to overcome the Blue Jays' stellar defense.

On Saturday, the Blue Jays played a double-header, defeating Grove City College 14-5 early in the afternoon, earning the right to face Navy in the later game. In the second game of the day, the Blue Jays faced a formidable and familiar Navy team for the sixth time this season. Navy jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead in the first quarter and with a strong defensive presence, did not look back. Navy won by a score of 10-2 and then defeated Princeton 9-6 on Sunday to capture the tournament title.

"The guys did well and came out strong in the first quarter," Navy assistant coach Carl Salyer said. "We played great defense. Anytime you hold a good team like Johns Hopkins to just two goals, you've done the job defensively and that helped us get our counter attack going as well."

Earlier in the day, the Blue Jays faced Grove City College, and had little trouble defeating the Wolverines by a score of 14-5.

On Friday night, the Blue Jays opened the tournament by defeating George Washington by a score of 8-4. The win marked the third time this season that the Jays have beaten the Colonials.

The Blue Jays, ranked No. 7 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association, and No. 3 in Division III will advance, along with Princeton, Navy and Bucknell, to the eight-team CWPA Eastern Championship on Nov. 16 in Providence, R.I. The top four teams from the Southern Division will face off against the Northern division. The winner of the Eastern Championship earns the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Championship in December.